Thursday, June 14, 2007

Per Ardua Ad Astra

This week is the one-year anniversary of this little blog. Thanks to the hundreds of people who visit every single day! This month will also see unveiling of technology that will make spaceflight safer, easier and more comfortable. More excitement coming soon!

EADS is Europe's dominant aerospace company and builder of the Ariane boosters. At the paris Air Show, their Astrium division announced a project to build a commercial spaceplane. It will take off from commercial airports (De Gaulle? Honolulu?) carrying passengers 100 kilometres into Space. The design is very similiar to the Piaggio P 180 business aircraft (below).

EADS has joined a competition that includes Virgin Galactic, Benson Aerospace, Rocketplane Kistler and many others. Developing the vehicle will cost in excess of a billion dollars. Given EADS' ability to sink large amounts of money into a project (like the A-380) this one stands a good chance of flying. Perhaps EADS Astrium recognises a growing market.

And guys, there really has only been one thing that she thinks much different from the standard versions, and that would be small black holes. Maybe you could get one from an asteroid. How you get from there to spaceflight is engineering above my pay scale.

But there's some pretty good evidence that the holes are out there. Maybe I'll have the opportunity to visit some of those exoplanets that the astronomers are discovering BEFORE I get too old to climb their mountains.

I hope these commercial spaceplanes will not be taking off from Charles de Gaulle airport, it's bad enough when they lose my bags on an trans-atlantic flight, who knows where they would end up if they were free to send them off into space.

Links to this post:

About Me

Full-time scientist. Before graduating I learned that the speed of light is slowing down and originated the "GM=tc^3" theory, which explains the dark energy problem and most physicists still can't explain. More recent work seeks Black Holes in some unexpected places, even within Earth. I've been working at NASA in Houston on studies of the Moon, and have an insider's view of the Space program. Actress in film, television and stages from Honolulu to Houston. In spare time I fight off hostile aliens, explore a strange world and unusual forms of life.